In a Heartbeat
by RaajmdTMP
Summary: Seven months after Once a Pretender, Always a Pretender, Jarod makes a discovery that will change his world. ~COMPLETED~
1. Default Chapter

In a Heartbeat  
  
By RaajmdTMP  
  
Part 1  
  
Miss Parker's House  
May 15, 2001  
  
Miss Parker had just come home from work. She got her mail and walked in her house. She booted her computer. She had been keeping in touch with Fiona through e-mail for the past few months. Fiona kept her updated in Jarod's search for her family.  
  
While her computer hummed to life, Parker sifted through her mail. Water bill, electric bill and one with no return address. It was about the size of a greeting card and she would recognize the handwriting anywhere. She opened it up.  
  
"Happy Mother's Day?" she read confused. The phone rang.  
  
"What's the card supposed to mean?" she asked the caller annoyed.  
  
"What card?" asked a very confused Broots.  
  
'Wow! For once in his life, Jarod didn't have good timing,' Parker thought.   
  
There was a knock on Parker's back door.  
  
"Nothing, Broots. Um, I got to go. I'll call back later," Parker said and hung up the phone.  
  
She walked over to the door and peeked outside.  
  
'I guess he did.'  
  
She opened the door.  
  
"What are you doing here, Jarod?"  
  
"I… We need to talk."  
  
"It must be important. Otherwise you would just call me in the middle of the night."  
  
"Miss Parker, please. This is serious."  
  
It was then that she really looked at him. He was pale and a little shaky.  
  
"Jarod, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."  
  
"You know, I wish I had," he said with a little laugh as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. He followed her into her living room.  
  
"Have a seat."  
  
"Thank you," Jarod said as he sank into the couch. Parker sat down next to him.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"After all my years dealing with the Centre, I thought I had seen everything. I guess I was wrong."  
  
"Jarod, what are you talking about?"  
  
"I… I found Fiona's parents."  
  
"You did? Where are they? They're alive, right?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, they're alive all right."  
  
"Well, what's the big deal?"  
  
"It's not so much where they are, as who they are."  
  
"Who are they?" she paused. "And why haven't you told Fiona yet?" she added suspiciously.  
  
"I thought you should know first."  
  
"How could it possibly be important for me to know before her?"  
  
He didn't say anything. He just looked at her with a somewhat guilty expression. He couldn't bring himself to say it. He just hoped she'd understand.  
  
She looked for the answer in his eyes. She suddenly understood the meaning of his card… and the feeling that something strange was going to happen from months before. This was something strange and completely unexpected. She was Fiona's mother. But that didn't explain why it affected Jarod so badly, unless of course he was…  
  
"Jarod, how could they do that to us? My father…"  
  
"Your father will do anything for money. Could you imagine him even having to think twice about making a super Pretender? I mean, the intelligence of a child of two Red Files could be beyond anything ever seen before."  
  
Miss Parker was speechless. How dare they? The Centre had done some horrible things but Jarod was right. They had never done anything like this. A few months before she had been questioning herself why she stayed at the Centre. Now she couldn't bear to go back.  
  
She reached out and took his hands in hers. She looked up with tears in her eyes only to find tears in his. She wanted to let all her emotions out, but she had to say this first.  
  
"Jarod, the Centre has taken so much from us over the years, but this time they went too far. They've crossed a line and they can't go back. I can't go back."  
  
"You mean…?  
  
"I'm leaving the Centre."  
  
"Parker, are you sure?"  
  
"Come on, Jarod. All these years you have been trying to convince me to leave. Don't even pretend you want me to stay. I can't, not after this. They took our child."  
  
"I'm not saying anything like that, Parker. I'm just surprised you decided so fast."  
  
"Fast!? You've been trying to get me to leave for the past five years!"  
  
"Yeah, well, ah, if you need help with this, I'm here."  
  
"I wasn't planning on doing it alone, I told you that. We both have responsibility for Fiona's safety. It's something we've never had to handle alone and I don't think we could if we tried. We need to stick together if we're going to keep a family of runaway Red Files out of the Centre."  
  
"So you're saying you need my help?"  
  
"Go ahead, boy genius. Rub it in."  
  
"Hey, don't blame me. It's not every day that the Ice Queen asks you for help."  
  
"Oh, thanks a lot. I feel much better now."  
  
Jarod smiled at the look on her face. She reluctantly smiled back.  
  
"Jarod, you're a genius. Can you answer a question for me?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Can anyone possibly stay mad at you very long?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Cute. Not funny, but cute," she said before she threw a pillow at his head.  
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"I don't know," she repeated his reply mockingly.  
  
"Okay, now that we're even, we should start planning on getting you out of there."  
  
"And how we'll tell Fiona. It's bound to be harder to explain it to her than to me. She may have spent all her life at the Centre but she might not know all they are capable of."  
  
"We'll tell her tomorrow. It would be too much for us to deal with if we told her tonight."  
  
"Jarod, the people at the Centre are going to think you had something to do with my leaving. What if they think that Syd, Broots, and I have been helping you all along? They won't be safe there."  
  
"Don't worry, Parker. Sydney and Broots will be safe. We'll make sure they're gone before anyone, even Lyle, knows you've left." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.  
  
The Centre  
Blue Cove, DE  
The next morning  
  
Broots burst into Sydney's office carrying yet another file folder.  
  
"Syd, you'll never guess what I found."  
  
"What is it, Broots?"  
  
"It's more information on the RFG2 project. There was only one known success: RFG2 number 16-791215-20."  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
"I… I think I should tell Miss Parker first."  
  
He started to leave.  
  
"Wait! You don't know how she's going to react to this."  
  
"I don't care how she reacts. She has a right to know what's been going on behind her back." He started for the door again but turned around. "If you've known about this, Sydney, I hope you had a good reason for keeping it a secret."  
  
Broots left Sydney to think about what he said and jogged to Miss Parker's office.  
  
"Miss Parker, I have something important to show you."  
  
He looked around the empty office.  
  
"Miss Parker?"  
  
Broots made his way over to Parker's desk. There was nothing out of place except the screensaver on her computer was on. He didn't think much of it. He continued his observation of the room when a sound came from the computer.  
  
"You have a video phone call."  
  
Broots sat down trying to decide if he should answer it or not.  
  
"What's the worst that could happen?" he said to himself when he clicked it.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Broots."  
  
"Jarod! Oh, I'm sorry. You want to talk to Miss Parker. I can't find…"  
  
"Calm down, Broots. I wanted to talk to you."  
  
"You did? Good, she won't kill me then. Wait a minute! If you want to talk to me, why did you send this to Miss Parker?"  
  
"We knew you'd be there to get it."  
  
"Whose 'we'?" Broots asked suspiciously.  
  
"Just check Parker's e-mail."  
  
Broots wanted to protest but Jarod ended the call. As he went into Parker's e-mail account, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about the room Jarod was sitting in. The feeling disappeared when he clicked on Parker's only new mail. A picture of a girl loaded. It looked like Miss Powers but had very dark brown eyes. There was a link below the picture. A song started to play when he clicked it.  
  
Well I just heard the news today  
It seems my life is gonna change  
I close my eyes; begin to pray  
And tears of joy stream down my face  
  
With arms wide open  
Under the sunlight  
Welcome to this place  
I'll show you everything  
With arms wide open  
  
Well I don't know if I'm ready  
To be the man I have to be  
I'll take a breath, take her by my side  
We stand in awe; we've created life  
  
With arms wide open  
Under the sunlight  
Welcome to this place  
I'll show you everything  
With arms wide open  
Now everything has changed  
I'll show you love  
I'll show you everything  
With arms wide open  
  
If I had just one wish  
Only one demand  
I hope he's not like me  
I hope he understands  
That he can take this life  
And hold it by the hand  
And he can greet the world  
With arms wide open…  
  
"You have a video phone call."  
  
The sound of those words made Broots nearly jump out of his skin.  
  
He quickly clicked it.  
  
"I got the mail- Miss Parker! I, ah, well…"  
  
"I take it you got my e-mail."  
  
"Yeah, but Jarod said… I thought it was from Jarod."  
  
"It was from Jarod," Jarod said as he came to sit next to Parker at the desk his laptop was set on.  
  
"Huh? What are you...? You're together and you're not trying to bring him in?"  
  
"You don't know me very well, do you Broots?"  
  
"Well, I… I thought I did," he answered confused.  
  
"Why were you in my office, Broots?"  
  
"I had to show you something important."  
  
"Let me guess, something called RFG2?"  
  
"You two know about RFG2?"  
  
"How else would you explain why we are acting so civilized towards each other?"  
  
"Who said we're acting civilized?" Parker asked as she playfully punched Jarod in the arm.  
  
"That hurt!"  
  
"It did not!"  
  
"Excuse me, but I'm still here," Broots said noticing that Parker looked happier than he had seen her for a long time.  
  
"Oh yeah, um, RFG2, right. We found out about it just yesterday."  
  
"I'm sorry you didn't know sooner."  
  
"Don't be sorry. There's nothing you could have done."  
  
"No, I've known about the project since November. I just didn't know what the ramifications were. I'm sorry, I- I should have told you."  
  
"It's okay. In a way, we've known just as long. We met Fiona in November when she was trying to locate her friend. He was kidnapped and we helped her find him. We didn't know she was our daughter, but we felt a connection with her. We knew she grew up at the Centre, so we thought that was the link. It made for an interesting vacation for me."  
  
"That's what you were doing on your vacation? You were with Jarod that whole time?"  
  
"Hard to believe that I came out of it alive, Broots?" Jarod teased.  
  
"Yes-No, of course not!" he caught himself. "I was just surprised. Um, what are you going to do about it?" Broots asked.  
  
"Well, we are planning on leaving as soon as possible. You should do the same."  
  
"But I…"  
  
"You have to. It's the only way you'll be safe."  
  
"Take Debbie and go as far as you can."  
  
"I will. Thank you."  
  
"Broots, wait a minute. We want to thank you, too. For all the help you've given us. For everything."  
  
"You're welcome. Jarod? Miss Parker?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Good luck with your family."  
  
"You, too, Mr. Broots."  
  
The screen went blank. Broots looked nervously around the room now. They were right. He had to leave now. He ran out the door in a daze. He couldn't believe what was happening. Nothing that happened in the past twenty minutes seemed real to him. He didn't even notice when he bumped into Mr. Lyle in the hall and dropped the file he was carrying. He mumbled 'sorry' and ran for Sydney's office.  
  
Lyle bent down and picked up the folder. Being inquisitive, not to mention nosy, by nature, he skimmed through it. He hurried off to Mr. Parker's office.  



	2. In a Heartbeat 2

In a Heartbeat  
  
By RaajmdTMP  
  
Part 2  
  
The door to Sydney's office flew open and an out of breath Broots ran in.  
  
"M…Miss Parker left," Broots gasped trying to catch his breath.  
  
"Maybe she had other business to attend to. It's nothing to worry about."  
  
"No, Syd. She really left, for good. She and Jarod called. They said that they were going to live with their daughter. They told me to leave as soon as I could."  
  
"Miss Parker and Jarod? Then it is true. RFG2 was everything people said it was. Listen to them, Broots, get as far away as you can."  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"I'm going, too. Don't worry. Just get what you need and go. If I know Jarod and Miss Parker, they'll get in touch with us somehow and tell us where it's safe."  
  
"But…"  
  
"Go, now!"  
  
Mr. Parker's Office  
  
"What in the world were you thinking, Dad?"  
  
"Calm down, Lyle. You're starting to sound like your sister. She has too much Catherine in her."  
  
"Can you blame me? You used your own daughter for the Pretender Project. Do you know what would happen if she ever found out?"  
  
"You know she has a gift. How could we just sit and let it go to waste?"  
  
"I know where you're coming from, but why like this?"  
  
"We had the opportunity to create a super Pretender and we acted on it."  
  
"A super Pretender?"  
  
"An extraordinary child with the abilities of both her mother and father."  
  
"So you created this child genius but somehow she disappears. Why aren't we pursuing her instead of Jarod? She's worth more."  
  
"And she's ten times harder to catch. We have been chasing Jarod for five years; we'd probably never catch her. We always had a backup plan. We proceeded with it shortly before she escaped. She had started to ask too many questions about her parents. We had to take special measures in case she was harder to keep in the Centre than her father. Hopefully her brother won't be."  
  
"She has a brother?"  
  
"Her brother is the backup plan."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"Didn't you pay attention in your eighth grade science class, Lyle?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Let's just say it's genetically impossible for two blue eyed parents to have a brown eyed baby," Mr. Parker said while glancing through the window to Baby Parker's playroom.  
  
"Now, let's not ask anymore questions about RFG2. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the information, would we?" Parker threatened.  
  
"No, no more questions," Lyle replied, shocked at his discovery and for the first time in his life being afraid of the man he called father. He turned to leave, trying to hide the fact that this was bothering him as much as it was. It wasn't in his character to react to things this way.  
  
"Oh, and Lyle? Your sister better not find out about this, ever."  
  
The Tech Room  
SL 5  
  
"Going somewhere, Mr. Broots?"  
  
"M…Mr. Lyle?! No, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just doing some, ah, spring cleaning," Broots lied nervously.  
  
"Well, before you do, I need your help."  
  
"What can I do for you?" Broots replied, silently praying that it wouldn't have anything to do with Jarod or Miss Parker.  
  
"I need you to loop the cameras in Christian Parker's playroom."  
  
"But Mr. Lyle, if someone found out, something like that could get me killed."  
  
"Nobody better find out then."  
  
"Okay, I'll do it, but I can only guarantee you safety for fifteen minutes."  
  
"Good, thank you."  
  
"Mr. Lyle, can I ask why you want me to do this?"  
  
"It's family business."  
  
~*****~  
  
Lyle jogged down the hall. He came to his father's office.  
  
'He's in a meeting, perfect.'  
  
Lyle looked around and slipped into Christian's room.  
  
60 Herrick Court  
Blue Cove, DE  
  
Fiona was relaxing in her bed. There was no school that day because of renovations. Mr. and Mrs. Patten were sitting out in the front yard enjoying the nice weather. She decided that she would go out and do the same. She went and sat on the front steps.  
  
Just as she sat down, a car pulled up in front of the house. She recognized the passengers immediately.  
  
"Jarod! Parker! What are you doing here?" Mr. Patten asked as he went to greet them.  
  
"Nice to see you again, Mr. Patten. We need to talk to Fiona…"  
  
"About her family," Miss Parker finished Jarod's sentence.  
  
"If you want privacy, you probably want to talk in her room."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
They walked up to Fiona.  
  
"Come on, Fi. We have something we have to tell you."  
  
"You found my parents, didn't you?"  
  
"Just wait until we're in your room."  
  
They reached her room and shut the door behind them.  
  
"What did you find?"  
  
"Fiona, I think you should sit down."  
  
"I'll stand," she said but after she saw the look in their eyes she sat anyway.  
  
"This is big, isn't it?"  
  
"Very big."  
  
"Are my parents all right?" she asked, her voice shaky.  
  
"Oh, they're alive and well, don't worry about that."  
  
"What's wrong, then?"  
  
"This gets very complicated."  
  
"I'll understand."  
  
"We never doubted that, Fiona. We just have to explain it to you, for our benefit," Parker stated.  
  
"It all leads back to the Centre. Your parents, they didn't know about you until yesterday. It's hard to understand, but the Centre created you. They stole you from your parents, but in a different way than I was taken from mine.  
You see, Fi, the Centre will do anything for money. Your parents were part of a project called Prodigy, under the heading of Red Files. You are part of the RFG2 project."  
  
"What's RFG2?"  
  
"It's the second generation of Red Files. Each Red File has incredible abilities, such as your ability to Pretend or your Inner Sense. Second Generation Files have abilities that surpass their parents. The Red Files in both projects are known by names and numbers."  
  
"Numbers? Like prisoners?"  
  
"You could say that. They're treated like them. It's a ten digit number. Yours is 16-791215-20."  
  
"Ten digits?"  
  
Fiona could barely believe what she was hearing. When she escaped, Dr. Wolfman had given her a piece of paper with ten numbers on it. She said it was part of her past. Could she have possibly had one of her parents' identities since she escaped?  
  
She got up and walked up to her bulletin board. She took the piece of paper down and walked over to Jarod.  
  
"Like these?"  
  
Jarod looked at the paper.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Whose numbers are they?"  
  
Jarod took a deep breath. Miss Parker, who had remained silent during this whole explanation, put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She now understood why she recognized those numbers on her previous visit. She remembered them from when she found the original Red Files.  
  
"They're mine," Jarod replied looking up to see if she understood.  
  
"You mean you're my...?"  
  
Her knees began to buckle. This was too much for her. Jarod caught her and helped her on her bed. She tried to keep her mind on what was happening but her head was spinning with ideas and questions.  
Jarod was her father? Why hadn't she seen it before? And they thought she was the smart one. Miss Parker seemed to read her thoughts.  
  
"Fi, you can't expect to have realized it sooner. It's not the sort of thing that you normally think of. No one should ever have to."  
  
Fiona looked at Parker. There was only one reason for her to be there with Jarod.  
  
"Miss Parker, are you my mother?"  
  
"Yes, yes I am," she replied with a smile that belonged to Catherine Parker.  
  
"I know that even with your intelligence this is a hard concept to grasp…" Jarod started when he saw the strange look on Fiona's face.  
  
"I can fully grasp the concept, Ja-I mean, Dad. There's just something about knowing who your parents are. It's the strangest feeling. I have a family. I can't even begin to describe how I feel."  
  
"You don't have to, Fiona. We are all feeling the same way."  
  
Fiona started to get up off the bed.  
  
"I guess it's true what they say."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That your whole life can change in a heartbeat," she said as she started for the door.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"We have to tell Richard and Frances."  
  
They walked out the door into the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Patten were sitting on the couch. When they saw them come in they stood up quickly. They looked like they were worried about what the news might be.  
  
"Good news?"  
  
Fiona's face gave nothing away. She walked up to Mr. Patten and hugged him.  
  
"Thank you for rescuing me. And for being the closest thing to a family I ever knew, both of you."  
  
"Fiona, you're making me more worried than I need to be. What's wrong? Did something happen to your parents?"  
  
Fiona smiled a smile he had never seen before. It was like she found something that was always missing in her life. Actually she had.  
  
"Nothing's wrong. I… I have a family, finally."  
  
"You found her parents? How?" Mrs. Patten asked.  
  
"It wasn't that hard, Frances. We didn't have to look that far."  
  
"Where are they?"  
  
"When will you meet them?" both Patten's asked simultaneously.  
  
"I already met them. I've known them since November. I just didn't know they were my parents."  
  
"November? That's when you met Jarod and Parker," Mr. Patten said suspiciously.  
  
They really didn't need to ask any questions. They could see the truth in the eyes of the people in front of them.   
  
"Will the Centre stop at nothing?" Mrs. Patten asked.  
  
"I wouldn't count on it," Mr. Patten said coldly.  
  
"All that matters is that we're together now. I just need to keep our newfound family safe. They may try to hurt us, but they'll never tear our family apart."  
  
Mr. Patten looked at Fiona and her parents.  
  
"Fiona, I'm very happy for you, all of you. I just regret that I won't really be part of your life anymore."  
  
"You'll always be a part of my life, never forget that. I'll call you whenever I can and, even though it's a pain, I'll send you a letter in the mail," Fiona joked.  
  
"Hey, don't blame me. I couldn't use a computer if my life depended on it."  
  
"I'm sorry we have to break this up, but we have to leave before the Centre finds out what's going on."  
  
"I know. Fiona, when you're finished saying goodbye, why don't you get your stuff together with Jarod."  
  
Fiona gave Mr. Patten one more hug and went over to say goodbye to Mrs. Patten. She went to her room to help Jarod pack her stuff. Once she was gone Miss Parker walked over to Mr. Patten. She hugged him, too.  
  
"Thank you for keeping Fiona safe."  
  
Mrs. Patten walked over to her.  
  
"Good luck with your family."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"I should be thanking you, you saved Richard's life."  
  
"That's not at all necessary."  
  
"Yes it is. If it wasn't for you and your family… I don't even want to think about it."  
  
"It's okay. I know how you feel." Miss Parker looked out the window when she heard a car door slam. "There is one thing you can do for us, though."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Help me 'explain' why I'm here to my brother."  



	3. In a Heartbeat 3

In a Heartbeat  
  
By RaajmdTMP  
  
Part 3  
  
Lyle knocked on the door. This wasn't something he was used to, helping people. He couldn't really explain why he felt he should do this. After all he'd seen and done there was still part of him that cared and it surprised him, almost scared him.   
He didn't know why he thought Parker was here. It was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him turn down this street. When he saw a car in front of this house he knew it was the right place, even though it wasn't her car. He also thought he knew whose car it was, but this time he didn't care who she was with. This was one time he wasn't going to ruin his sister's happiness, he was going to try to make her more happy.  
After what seemed like forever the door opened. The person who opened it was in her mid fifties.  
  
"Excuse me, ma'am. I was wondering if you had seen this woman," he said pulling a picture from his pocket with his good hand.  
  
"Yes, she has," Parker said stepping into view; she didn't want to test him. "What are you doing here, Lyle?"  
  
"Parker, this is hard for me. I never did anything like this before, so bear with me."  
  
"What are you talking about?" she asked harshly.  
  
"Just come with me." He started walking towards his car. "You probably don't know about what I'm about to tell you. Once you've heard it you'll want to go and tear the Centre down brick by brick with your bare hands."  
  
"What are you getting at, Lyle?"  
  
"I know this is strange coming from me, but I found out about something today that I thought you should know. You have a daughter."  
  
"I know."  
  
He looked a little startled to hear that she knew already.  
  
'I can't believe that place is still standing.'  
  
"That's not all, Parker. Come here," he pulled her to his car.  
  
"What…?"  
  
He pulled the door open revealing a small boy in a car seat.  
  
"Lyle, what does Christian have to do with this?"  
  
"Everything, Parker. He's…he's your son."  
  
The color drained from her face.  
  
"My son? Lyle why… what made you do this, rescue him?"  
  
"I don't know. It feels right. I'm not used to these kinds of feelings, any feelings for that matter. I think I owe you at least this much. And him. He deserves to be with his parents, I didn't get that chance. Who knows who I'd be today if I had?"  
  
"His parents?"  
  
"Don't play dumb, Parker. If you knew about your daughter already, I can only think of one person who could have told you."  
  
She started to look a little worried.  
  
"I won't tell anyone, don't worry. You're free. You can just disappear. We'll never find you. No breadcrumbs, no clues, just go and don't look back. There is something else you should know, though."  
  
"What else could there possibly be?"  
  
"I confronted Mr. Parker about this. He threatened, that if you ever found out, something bad would happen to the 'information.'"  
  
"He threatened you and you still had the guts to go through with this? Thank you, Lyle. You risked your life for my family and me. You have more Mom in you than I gave you credit for."  
  
"You don't have to thank me, I don't deserve it. At least not yet."  
  
He set the car seat on the ground next to a shocked Miss Parker and left without a look back. She stood there for a while thinking about what just happened. Christian, she helped bring him into the world and now, over a year later, she finds out he's her son. What was Jarod going to say?  
  
"Honey, are you okay?"  
  
She turned around to see Jarod coming over to her. She hugged him tightly.  
  
"Two children, Jarod. We have two children and we didn't even know it. We've missed so much of their lives," she cried.  
  
"But we won't miss another minute, I promise you. Everything's going to be okay."  
  
Ell Pond  
Blue Cove, DE  
May 18, 2001  
  
Sydney sat on a park bench contemplating the events of the past couple of days. Jarod had contacted him a few hours after he and Parker sent the e-mail to Broots. He had told Syd to be on the bench in the park at this time so he could give him some information on where it was safe to be. But there had been no sign of Jarod at all.  
  
"Nice weather we've been having."  
  
Sydney jumped up and turned around at the sound of the voice. He expected to see Miss Parker standing behind him, but he found himself looking at a younger version of her. A younger version with brown eyes.  
After overcoming the initial shock of seeing her, he suddenly realized who she was.  
  
"You must be Fiona," he almost asked.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Sydney," she said as she walked closer to him. She held out her hand and he shook it. He looked at her amazed.  
  
"You look just like your mother."  
  
"And she looks like her mother. I know, over the past two days we've gotten really close."  
  
"I'm sorry you didn't have the last thirteen years together."  
  
"You did what you could for our family. All that matters is that we're together now."  
  
"I should have tried harder."  
  
"No, Sydney. If you tried to do any more, you would have been killed. I don't think my father would have lasted a year in that place without you."  
  
"He's strong. He would have made it."  
  
"You were his strength, you and my mother."  
  
"I'm glad Miss Parker is finally following her heart. She and your father were such good friends growing up. If only they hadn't tried to hide it they might have found happiness sooner."  
  
"They didn't hide it too well. You could tell by the way they acted around each other."  
  
"I know, I've seen it, too."  
  
"I'm sorry my parents couldn't be here. They wanted to, but they would have been recognized too easily should anyone be watching. The Centre isn't looking for me, so I was safe. Here's the information you need for your new life," she said as she pulled an envelope from her backpack.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"That should be all you'll ever need. Contact us if you ever need anything else. Now, if you'll excuse me, someone is expecting me."  
  
She was gone when he turned around.  
  
'Like father, like daughter,' he thought.  
  
Bus Stop  
Main Street  
Blue Cove, DE  
  
"I told you that we might have to leave quickly sometime. I hope you'll be okay with this."  
  
"I'll be fine, Dad. I know that the Centre isn't a good place. To tell you the truth, I've been hoping you'd leave for a while, now. I'll talk to my friends over the Internet," she explained.  
  
"I'm glad you understand, Debbie. The bus stop's right over here, come on."  
  
"Why are we going to the bus stop?"  
  
"I'm supposed to meet someone here, but with all these kids I can't see anything," Broots said while trying to look through the crowd. "She said she'd be on the bench, but I can't even see that."  
  
"I see someone, come on," Debbie said as she pulled her father through the crowd.  
  
"Oh, that's not her, Debbie. I was supposed to meet Miss Parker."  
  
"She's the only one on the bench. Maybe you should ask her if she's seen Miss Parker."  
  
"It's worth a shot." They walked up behind the girl on the bench.  
  
"Excuse me, have you seen a tall- Miss Powers!?" he asked when she turned around.  
  
"Not today, Mr. Broots. Today, I'm just Fiona, but I am the one you're looking for. Have a seat, both of you."  
  
"Where is Miss Parker?"  
  
"At home with Christian and Jarod."  
  
"Christian is with you guys?"  
  
"He's my brother."  
  
"Oh, but that means Lyle…"  
  
"Very confusing, I know."  
  
"I'll never understand all that happened over the past week."   
  
"Here's the information you needed."  
  
"Thank you, Fiona."  
  
"You're welcome. I'll be looking forward to getting to know you and your daughter better when things settle down a little. I have to go meet my family."  
  
"Bye, Fiona. Thanks again."  
  
"Don't mention it. Oh, and by the way, I'll be sure to keep the blender hidden when you're around."  
  
"What?" he asked but she was already gone.  
  
"Who was that, Dad?"  
  
"That… was Miss Parker's daughter."  
  
"Miss Parker has a daughter?"  
  
"Yeah, it surprised her, too."  
  
"That doesn't make any sense."  
  
"I'll explain later."  
  
Miss Parker's House  
Blue Cove, DE  
  
"Parker, we have to get a move on if we're going to make our flight."  
  
"I'll be right there, I'm almost ready."  
  
"Dad, we have 30 minutes to get on the plane!"  
  
"You here that, Parker?"  
  
"Yes, I did," she said from behind him. "Since you're so anxious to leave, you can carry my bags." She shoved her suitcases into his hands.  
  
"Mom, Christian won't stop crying."  
  
"Let me hold him," she said taking the little boy. "It's okay, baby. Mommy's here." He stopped crying almost immediately.  
  
"Looks like he needed his mother," Jarod said kissing her on the cheek. "Let's go, we're all packed," he whispered.  
  
They walked out the back door so they wouldn't attract undue attention. Jarod buckled his son into the backseat of his SUV.  
  
"Jarod, you and Fi should both sit in the back with the tinted windows. It would be safer for me to be seen around here."  
  
"Do you already have a house picked out?" Fiona asked once they were on the road.  
  
"Yes, but it's only temporary. We're just staying there to test the waters, so to speak. If the Centre tracks us there we'll be able to leave quickly."  
  
"Where is it?"  
  
"It's in Melrose, Massachusetts. It's a green house on the corner of Albion and Day Street. I rented it about a month ago to serve as a hide out. I never dreamed I would be bringing my family there, though."  
  
"Jarod, we're almost at the airport. Where should I park this?"  
  
"Park wherever you want, as long as there are a lot of other cars. We don't want to stand out."  
  
Logan Airport  
Boston, MA  
Later That Day  
  
"At least we know where luggage pickup is now," Fiona said as they walked through the building.  
  
"I have to admit, I wasn't doing my best planning in that Pretend. Normally I know those things."  
  
"Well, you never had people tagging along with you before either."  
  
"It was fun, wasn't it?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Working together."  
  
"Yeah. Maybe we'll be able to again soon."  
  
Corner of Albion and Day  
Melrose, MA  
That Night  
  
"It's nice, but it could use a little work," Parker said, referring to the house.  
  
"I wonder who had the house before us. One of the upstairs bedrooms is green with leaves painted near the ceiling."  
  
"It was supposedly rented by a family for 15 years. That was the kids' room."  
  
"Jarod, shouldn't we discuss what we should do if we see any sweepers hanging around here?"  
  
"Well, our top priority is to blend in. Fiona will start school on Monday. We can't tell anyone where we came from because we don't know whom to trust. Remember that, Fi, on Monday. No matter how interested your teachers or classmates seemed to be, you can't tell them anything but what I tell you. We will be going under the name Mason for as long as we stay here.  
I talked to some of the teachers today when we got in. I am happy to tell you there is one I know you can trust," Jarod explained.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"You'll know when you see her," Parker answered. Jarod had told her what he found out not long before.  
  
"Fiona and Parker, listen carefully. There are many different areas, in this neighborhood alone, for you to hide if you should have to. We have to keep in contact no matter where we are," he handed them both cell phones. "These are secure. Fiona, to really blend in, you can go places with kids you meet at school, but try to keep your eyes open. It's unlikely that the Centre can find us, but on the off chance they do, you have to be ready. Try to learn the area over the weekend."  
  
Christian's cries could be heard over the baby monitor.  
  
"Excuse me," Parker said while getting up.  
  
"Let me get him, honey. You need to get some rest. It's going to be a long week."  



	4. In a Heartbeat 4

Author's Note: There's a big twist in this chapter. I don't know if any of you have seen it coming. I didn't. Hope you don't hate me for it.  
  
In a Heartbeat  
  
By RaajmdTMP  
  
Part 4  
  
Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School  
Monday, May 21, 2001  
Seventh Block  
  
Fiona walked into her new math classroom. She took the seat behind a boy named Danny, who she had met earlier in the day.   
  
"Watch out Fi, you better not cross the 'Wolf,' she'll bite your head off."  
  
"The wolf?"  
  
"Mrs. Wolfman, you heard of her?"  
  
"I- I think I know her."  
  
Mrs. Wolfman walked in the room. The color drained from her face when she saw Fiona. She knew she was going to be here, but it wasn't real until that second.   
  
"How do you know her? Fi, Fi are you okay?"  
  
"My father, he told me I would know one of my teachers. I just never guessed it would be her. Never in a million years…"  
  
"How long have you known her?"  
  
"All my life. Well, most of it. Look, Dan, my parents told me not to tell people too much about my past."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's complicated. Maybe I could tell you later. But right now, I can't. I'm sorry."  
  
"Fiona, come with me. I have to find you a book."  
  
"I'll be right there, D… ah, Mrs. Wolfman."  
  
Once they were down the hall in the supply closet, Fiona got up the courage to talk to her.   
  
"I never thought I'd see you again, Dr. Wolfman."  
  
"Fiona, I…"  
  
"I know. It was for my own safety and yours. I still… I missed you."  
  
"I missed you, too. When Jarod came to talk to me Friday…"  
  
"My father," Fiona interrupted, suddenly realizing something. "Jarod is my father. You helped me escape after he did. Did you really not have any idea about who my parents were?"  
  
"I had my theory but I couldn't tell you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I didn't want to get your hopes up."  
  
"Get my hopes up! That was my family. After my life, I think I ought to have the chance to get my hopes up!"  
  
"Fiona, please. I had no choice. They would have had me killed."  
  
Fiona just stared at her contemplating what she was hearing. Mrs. Wolfman was right and she knew it. She felt like her father must have when he was first confronting Sydney after he escaped.   
  
"I'm sorry. You gave up your entire life for me. You saved me from that place. I… I overreacted."  
  
"You had every right to say what you said. I deserved it. I guess we better get back to class before the kids get too loud. Here's your book."  
  
They walked back to the classroom. When they came in, everyone looked up. Fiona wasn't used to that kind of attention. She blushed slightly and took her seat.   
  
"Fiona, what happened?" Danny whispered.  
  
"I yelled at her because she helped keep me from my parents for the past thirteen years."  
  
"Very funny, what really happened?"  
  
"We had trouble finding a book."  
  
"You know, for some reason, I find that easier to believe."  
  
"Yeah, well, you've only known me for six hours. Wait a week and you'll probably take that back."  
  
~*****~  
  
"For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me." Job 3:25  
  
~*****~  
  
Candy Castle  
Melrose, MA  
After School  
  
"Look at all this candy! My father would love this place. By the way, what is a Swedish Fish?"  
  
"You've never had a Swedish Fish before? Boy, where did you grow up?" Danny asked.  
  
Fiona put her selections on the counter in the small store.  
  
"That'll be $3.25," the storeowner said.   
  
"Okay, hold on a second." Fiona searched through her backpack for her Certs container that she hid her money in. She glanced out the window towards the train station. There were two men in dark suits who seemed to be asking people questions. She dropped the container she had been searching for.  
  
"Excuse me, ma'am. Do you have a back exit?"  
  
"Yes, but your not allowed… Wait, come back!"  
  
Fiona started to run for the back room when the men crossed the street. She pulled Danny with her.  
  
"What's wrong, Fi?"  
  
"I can't talk now, we have to go."  
  
"Who were those guys?"  
  
"My past. Now follow me!"  
  
The two teens ran through the store and out the back. They were far enough away not to be seen but close enough to hear the bell ring when the men entered the building. They could hear three muffled voices coming from inside.  
  
"Come on Dan, they'll come out soon."  
  
She ran across the street in front of her with Dan close behind. She could sense the sweepers following her. They ran down a one-way street, following a shortcut Fiona had discovered over the past weekend. This street led to Day Street.  
Fiona decided that it would not be safe to return home with the sweepers as close behind as they were. She had to put more space than a street between them. She turned into the driveway of the house next to hers. The backyard was located in the center of the block. The pair ran to the very back of the thickly wooded yard. There was no fence separating it from other yards, so they were able to cut about half the street out of their escape.  
There was an apartment building directly across from where they emerged from the yard. As they ran to the back of the parking lot, Fiona quickly thought about what their next move should be.  
  
"Can you climb a chain link fence with that cast?" she asked, pointing at the bright green cast on his left arm covered with notes written by his friends.  
  
"Well, I think so…"  
  
"Good, you go first."  
  
She helped Dan over the rather tall fence in the back of the parking lot that led to a large field before pulling herself over. She dropped down on the other side and stumbled when she started to walk. When she got her balance back, she led Dan out of view from Albion Street.   
  
"What do they want with you?" Dan asked after he caught his breath.  
  
What should she do? Should she tell him? He was a part of it now; he needed to know, for his own safety.  
  
"You would have been so much safer if you hadn't met me."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"This is going to be very hard to believe," she paused, waiting for a reaction. "There's a reason I couldn't tell anyone about my past. As you can see, they're chasing me. They're chasing my entire family."  
  
"Why would they do that?" he asked still confused.  
  
"To control us. You see, my father is a genius. He can become anyone he wants to be and… so can I. The corporation those people work for kidnapped my father when he was four years old and sold his genius to the highest bidder. I… I was created from my parents' DNA for these abilities.   
We were both held captive all our lives. My father escaped about five years ago. I escaped a year ago, with someone's help."  
  
"You said you knew Mrs. Wolfman. If you lived there all your life, how could you?"  
  
"I was getting to that. She raised me, kept me safe. She was actually the one who helped me escape."  
  
Danny's mouth dropped open, obviously surprised to hear that. He tried to absorb all this information. It sounded like something you'd see on television. He could hardly believe something like this could ever happen in real life.  
  
"So what you said earlier, that you yelled at her, that was true?"  
  
"As true and real as I'm talking to you now."  
  
"Wow," he said while trying to think of something better to say. "I'll never look at Mrs. Wolfman the same way again. I had no idea that kind of stuff actually happened."   
  
"I'm sorry you had to be a part of this, Danny."  
  
"No, that's okay. I could use a little excitement in my life," he said, still not understanding the full consequences of knowing or being a part of what he was now.  
  
She smiled sadly.   
  
"You can't tell anyone about this, Dan. You could be in grave danger if you did. With even the little you know of my story, they wouldn't think twice about killing you. You have to promise with all your heart you'll never tell."  
  
He just stared at her. It took him a while to find his voice again.  
  
"I… I promise, of course I do. We have to get further away than this. Do you know anywhere safe?"  
  
"I should call my parents. They have to know about this. Maybe they could pick us up or something." Fiona took her cell phone out of her pocket and hit speed dial.   
  
"Hello."  
  
"Dad, I had a little trouble with a couple of sweepers down by the train station. Can you pick me up in the back of the apartments across the street from our house?"  
  
"Sweepers?! Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine. Just try to come quick. I'm not sure where they are."  
  
"Of course. We'll be there in a half hour. We're at the car dealership in Danvers. I can't get there any faster. Can you find somewhere to stay until then?"  
  
"I think we can," she said and hung up before he could say anything else.   
  
"Do you know anyone who lives around here, Danny? We have to hide for another half an hour till my parents get here."  
  
"I know a kid that lives in the apartment building. We could wait there."  
  
They walked over to the fence slowly and looked around. There was no sign of the sweepers. Again, Fiona helped Dan over the fence and climbed over herself, having a little more difficulty than before. They entered the building around the back. They made there way up the black cement painted stairs. Fiona skipped over one step that had a crack down the middle of it.   
  
"He lives in apartment…"  
  
"C4," Fiona interrupted.  
  
"How'd you know?"  
  
"Lucky guess?"  
  
"Fiona, you're weird."  
  
Dan knocked on the door to C4.   
  
"Hang on a second!"  
  
Tom unlocked the door and looked outside. He was about Fiona's height with green-blue eyes and dark brown hair.   
  
"Danny, what are you doing here?"  
  
"We needed someplace to stay for a half hour until Fi's parents pick us up."  
  
"Fiona? You just moved in across the street, right?"  
  
"Yeah. I don't have a key yet."  
  
"Well, you're welcome to stay here. I'm Tom Pike."  
  
"Nice to meet you. Ah, this may sound a little weird, but your father wouldn't happen to be a detective, would he?"  
  
"Yes he is. He was just promoted about six months ago. Someone tried to steal his position, but a man helped him get the job he deserved. How'd you…?"  
  
"Don't ask."  
  
Fiona smiled as she remembered Jarod's alias from when he was interviewing Mrs. Patten in November. He called himself Detective Pike. He must have helped Tom's father uncover the truth about the person that was trying to steal his job. Many of her discoveries over the past few months had proved that it really was a small world.  
Fiona and Dan waited in Tom's apartment for Jarod to show up for about twenty-five minutes. She decided that she should go outside to wait the remaining five minutes, for the sole reason that Jarod wouldn't have to bring attention to them by beeping. She wouldn't be waiting out in the open, anyway.  
Fi explained her plan to Danny quietly and he followed her back outside. They scanned the area carefully before heading into view. She quickly jogged behind the dumpster in the back of the parking lot. There was a wooden fence that led to a yard overgrown with plants next door. She climbed through the fence and crouched down with Dan close behind.  
A white minivan drove slowly down the street and parked around the other side of the building. Fiona asked Dan if he could go and check it out. He would be in less danger than her if sweepers saw him. As he climbed through the fence, she got a sudden sense of foreboding. She could feel something bad was going to happen all the way down to her toes, which I may add were getting wet by the puddle she was standing in. To be better hidden, and to get out of the puddle, she backed further in to the dark, ominous yard.   
As Dan got closer to the van he heard a rustle behind him. He assumed that Fiona had deemed it safe and began to follow him. He reached the car to find the driver talking to someone in the backseat, whose identity was hidden by the tinted windows. Dan knocked on the front window and the driver jumped at the sound. He turned to face Danny and rolled down the window.  
  
"Are you Mr. Mason?"  
  
"Yes. Do you know where my daughter is?" Jarod questioned.  
  
Dan turned around. Fiona wasn't there.  
  
"Well, I thought she was right behind me. I guess she's still over there hiding," Dan explained while pointing to the yard. He ran back to the fence.  
  
"Fiona, it's your father. Fiona?" He couldn't see her anywhere in the yard. "Mr. Mason, come here! I can't find her!" Danny yelled climbing through the fence again to try to look for her more closely.   
Jarod got out of the car quickly and ran over to help find Fiona, turning on his car alarm as he ran. He, instead of climbing through, jumped over the fence.   
  
"She was just here?" he asked, his worry apparent in his voice.   
  
"Yes, I swear she was right here. She asked me to go out and check if it was your car. She was worried about the sweepers seeing her."  
  
"You know about the sweepers? How much did she tell you?"  
  
"She told me only what I needed to know to stay safe. They saw me. Now I know I can't tell anyone what I know or they'll kill me. Don't worry, she didn't tell me until after I had already seen them."  
  
"They must have waited until she was alone." It sounded like Jarod was either going to go kill the sweepers with his bare hands or start to cry. He looked around apprehensively.  
  
"Danny, they could still be here. We have to go."  
  
"But what about Fiona?"  
  
"We'll get her back. If it's the last thing I do we'll get her back."  
  
Jarod and Dan ran back to the new minivan. Jarod opened the door and got in. He told Dan to do the same. Danny took a seat in the very back row. He was behind Miss Parker and Christian.   
  
"Jarod, what happened? Where's Fiona? And who is that?" Parker asked, looking back at Dan after she noticed that Jarod was shaking so badly, he had trouble putting the key in the ignition.  
  
"They… They got her. They took her and I wasn't around to stop it," he paused taking the parking brake off and starting to drive. "Danny was with her when the sweepers came. He's a part of all this now. He was thrown in the middle of it," Jarod said looking at the passengers in the rearview mirror.  
  
"How did you know my name?" Dan asked, now realizing that neither Fiona nor himself had told Jarod.  
  
"Lucky guess?" Jarod said in the exact same tone that Fiona had used not an hour before. Dan had seen many kids who resembled or acted like their parents, but this was ridiculous. Knowing something they couldn't know and then giving the same excuse? No one can guess that well.  
He wanted to know the whole story but knew they couldn't tell him. So, instead he settled for sitting in the backseat with his head in his hands, trying to comprehend all that happened since morning while Jarod continued to drive.   
After about ten minutes, they arrived at Dan's house.  
  
"We're here, Danny," Miss Parker said quietly when they pulled up. Dan lifted his head. He didn't even bother to ask how they knew where he lived.   
"Try to get some sleep. I know this is a lot for you to handle, but you have to get on with your life. You don't have to worry about Fiona much; we'll get her back. We have to ask you a favor, other than keeping this a secret. Please tell Mrs. Wolfman that we need to speak with her after school tomorrow."  
  
Dan nodded and walked up to his house in a daze.  



	5. In a Heartbeat 5

In a Heartbeat  
  
By RaajmdTMP  
  
Part 5  
  
The "Mason Family" House   
  
Jarod was on the phone with Broots and Parker was pacing back and forth trying to calm Christian down, who had been crying for longer than she had seen before. Jarod was beginning to lose his patience waiting for Broots to find any trace of Fiona's abduction in the Centre mainframe. He was tempted to search himself, but realized that Broots had created a great deal of the security and would have a better chance at getting past it unnoticed.   
  
The battery on Jarod's cell phone chose this inopportune moment to run out and their connection was cut off. He was about to throw the cell phone out the window in frustration when Miss Parker grabbed his hand to stop him.  
  
"He'll call my phone," she said reassuringly.   
  
Christian had finally calmed down enough for her to put him in his crib. After she did, she led Jarod to the couch to wait for Broots' call. This was an incredibly hard time for both of them. As in the past, they both felt responsible, even though it was the Centre's fault that Fiona was not with them. They sat side by side listening to the soft sound of their son breathing for about ten minutes until Miss Parker's phone rang.   
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi, Miss Parker. How are you holding up?"  
  
"Not too well, Broots. We have to have some good news."  
  
"Well, I'm afraid I can't really give you too much."  
  
"What do you mean?" Broots could almost see her tears; her usual confident voice was fogged with grief.  
  
"I still haven't uncovered any information about Fiona. I can tell you that as of 4pm today, the security precautions against you two have been tightened. It's pretty much shoot first, ask questions later. A man was spotted on Centre grounds earlier today that matched Jarod's description. He was killed the first clear shot the guards had."  
  
"We can't get anywhere near that place without risking our lives, then?"  
  
"You could never get near there without risking your lives. Now, if you go near it, you'll be losing them."  
  
"So you're saying there's nothing we can do? We're just supposed to sit here and pretend this never happened?"  
  
"I would never say that, Miss Parker. We can't do anything from the outside. If there was someone on the inside we could trust, our chances of getting Fi out safely increase significantly."   
  
"But?" Miss Parker asked knowing that there must be more.  
  
"But, I don't know who to trust or how to contact them. For now, we should really get some rest. Maybe in the morning things will all be a little clearer to us. They won't hurt Fiona; she's way too valuable to them. If they planned on hurting her, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble of capturing her."  
  
"You're right, go get some sleep. We'll be fine here," Parker said before hanging up the phone.  
  
"What's the update?" Jarod asked unhappily, having only heard her half of the conversation clearly and both wanting and not wanting to hear the other. He was becoming more and more frustrated with each sentence he heard.  
  
"We can't go anywhere near the Centre. They'll have us killed. They already shot a man they thought was you."  
  
"So we have to sit and wait." He sighed heavily and put his head in his hands. "I've never felt so helpless or alone in my entire life."  
  
"You're not alone and you don't have to deal with this on your own," she comforted while rubbing his back. He looked up at her and gave a weak smile as a tear ran down his cheek. She could tell that he wasn't going to be the strong one this time; he knew what his daughter was feeling, what she was going through. Maybe no one had to be strong, but she was going to try.   
She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, whispered that everything would be okay, and kissed him, much in the way she had with his clone when she was attempting to help him escape.   
They were both so exhausted from worry that they fell asleep in each other's arms. That's how they awoke the next morning when Christian started to cry.  
  
The Centre  
Blue Cove, DE   
  
Fiona lay on a bed in a dark room that she had hoped that she would never have the displeasure of setting her eyes on again. The incessant blinking light on the camera was the only illumination in the area. Suddenly, bright, white light filled the room. She felt temporarily blinded, as you would when you walk out of a movie theater.  
A man walked into the room. He didn't speak but waited for Fiona's eyes to adjust. When they did, she could see that he was a thin man with dark brown hair and icy blue eyes. Lifeless, uncaring eyes. He had a cold, amused smile on his face and he stared, unblinking, at Fiona.   
  
"So this is the famous Fiona? It's an honor, a real honor to finally meet you," the man said with an unnaturally hollow, calm voice. There was the slightest bit of sarcasm concealed in it. "I've heard you can do some amazing things. I'll be looking forward to working along side someone with such remarkable abilities." His voice sent shivers right down her spine.   
  
"I'll never work beside someone like you, you road kill obsessed sociopath," she snapped.  
  
"Hate to burst your bubble, but you just did." His amusement had spread to his cold eyes.   
  
Fiona realized she had slipped again. She showed her gift for reading people. She had never met the man in her life, but she knew one of his secrets just by looking at him. She would have to learn to control the urge to give snide comebacks if she was going to survive. He came down there for her to do just what she had done, unknowingly show her talents.   
The man headed for the door.  
  
"Keep the lights on and lock the door," he told the guard. "Electronically and with a key. She won't be able to get out by 'reading' people alone," he added maliciously.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Cox."  
  
Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School  
  
Mrs. Wolfman walked into the classroom after her students and could sense immediately that something was very wrong. Fiona wasn't in her seat. She tried to calm herself by saying that she probably had a good reason for not being there and it was nothing to worry about, but she worried nonetheless.   
Danny, who was usually a class clown, so to speak, was sitting quietly in his seat. He didn't seem like himself. Another student tapped him on the shoulder to ask if they could borrow a pen and he jumped. Mrs. Wolfman noticed him acting strangely and had a weird feeling it had something to do with Fiona.  
At the end of class, Dan put his things away slowly. He got up and walked over to Mrs. Wolfman, who was erasing the blackboard.   
  
"Mrs. Wolfman?"  
  
"Yes, Danny?"  
  
"I need to talk to you."  
  
"What about?"  
  
"Um, Fiona's father, Mr. Mason, wanted me to tell you that he needs to speak with you."  
  
"Is everything all right?"  
  
He looked at her for the first time as she really was.  
  
"No, everything's not okay."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I know, Mrs. Wolfman."  
  
"You know what?"  
  
"About your past. About Fiona," he looked down at the floor, suddenly interested in the design of the tiles.  
  
"Something happened to Fiona, didn't it?"  
  
"She was taken. We were chased and they got her."  
  
"They took her? I'm sorry, I have to go," she said while grabbing her bag and hurrying out the door. Fiona's house was down the street from the school and Mrs. Wolfman ran to it. She must have looked odd to anyone who might have been passing by at that moment. She came up to the door of the light green house and rang the doorbell repeatedly.  
Jarod looked out the window and then opened the door.  
  
"Mrs. Wolfman." He looked pale and shaky like he had when he told Parker they had a child. This was not the same man she talked to the previous Friday.   
  
"If there's anything I can do…"  
  
Jarod considered this. "Come in."  
  
The Centre  
  
"Get away from me, Cox! I refuse to do anything you tell me to. There's no way you'll get my family!"  
  
"We don't need your family anymore, they've served their purpose. We only want you. As long as you stay with us, your family is free to live a normal life. Now, let's get to work."  
  
"Never," Fiona hissed.  
  
"We'll see about that. There are ways of making you cooperate," he said while pressing the button on the projector. The screen filled with the image of her father chained to the ceiling along with Lyle shocking him.  
  
"Well, let's just see about that," Fiona said under her breath.   
  
One Week Later  
  
Lyle walked down the hallway to Mr. Parker's office. He had been called down there for something he hoped he wouldn't be dragged into. Cox hadn't been having much luck with Fiona. Apparently, he hadn't been able to get her to do one Simulation over the past week and Mr. Parker had not given Cox the permission to use extreme measures to make her work.   
The office door opened with the familiar hydraulic hiss. Mr. Parker sat behind his desk.  
  
"Ah, Lyle. It's about time."  
  
"You wanted to see me?"  
  
"As you may or may not know, Mr. Cox has not been successful at getting the Pretender to cooperate. You were able to convince Jarod to work with you when he was captured. I was hoping you could use your influence to get his daughter to work with us."   
It wasn't a question and as much as Lyle didn't want to, he was going to have to be a part of this.  
  
"I'll try my hardest. She has been out…"  
  
"Don't give me that, Lyle. I don't care if she's been free for a hundred years. Either you succeed at this or you fail. If you succeed, you'll move up a rung on the ladder of success. If you should fall short, you earn yourself a one-way ticket to the Renewal Wing. We don't need another Sydney slowing us down."  
  
The Centre   
SL-15  
  
Lyle walked down the long corridor that led to his niece's cell. He came up to a door guarded by a large sweeper and handed him the key.  
  
"What's she doing?" he asked the man.  
  
"We just brought her food," the sweeper answered while unlocking the door. "Watch out. She may be young but she's liable to bite your head off if you give her half a chance."  
Lyle entered the dark cell and saw the young woman sitting on her bed. The food tray was off to one side and she was eating an apple. Her bed was against the far wall and she had her feet up on it so her knees were bent. Her back was against the cold concrete behind her. Without looking up, she whipped the apple core at Lyle's head. He tried to move out of the way but it grazed his ear.  
  
"Fiona?"  
  
She looked up at the sound of his unfamiliar voice. He felt as if she was staring into his soul, or what was left of it. He saw her resemblance to both her mother and her father. He never enjoyed having either of them look him in the eye and she was no different.   
  
"Lyle." She knew who he was. That wasn't a surprise to him. He figured Parker told her about him. "Why are you here?" she asked in an uncharacteristically bitter tone. It didn't take a genius to tell she didn't want to be there. He could feel her longing to run past him and out the door. He could also tell that she knew that was impossible with the guard there.  
  
"I believe you already know."  
  
"You're right. You're here to make me cooperate. They saw your so-called success with my father and think you can do it again. Trust me, you can't."  
  
"What makes you think so?"  
  
"Your eyes. You looked at me and saw my parents. You don't want to be a part of this."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied for the camera.  
  
"Whatever you say, Uncle Lyle. Better get to work on a plan on how to get me to do your evil bidding. You're not getting through to me now. Talk to you later, if you're lucky."  
  
Lyle sighed and left the room. He wondered if she was always like that. He didn't know how it was possible for someone who just met their parents to have the same personality as them. She was acting like Parker, but he could see Jarod in her eyes. It was a strange thing to experience.   
  
The Centre  
Fiona's Cell  
That Night  
  
Fiona again lay on her bed in the dark room staring at the blinking light on the camera on the wall. Suddenly, the light stopped blinking and went out. She heard metal clanging coming from the air ducts.  
She walked over to the vent and bent down. Again, the warm, blue eyes stared back at her.  
  
"Nice to see you again, Angelo."  
  
He smiled.  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"Angelo help," he said.  
  
"Help?"  
  
"Help escape." He pulled the vent cover off, crawled into the room and motioned for her to go in the duct ahead of him.   
  
"I won't know which way to go if I go first."  
  
Angelo nodded and crawled back in. Fiona put the vent cover back into place behind her and started her journey through the twisting tunnels that made up the Centre's ventilation system.   
After about two hours, Angelo motioned for Fiona to go up the ladder at the end of the tunnel they had just entered. She didn't know which direction they were headed or where in the Centre they were but decided to try her luck. She pushed the cover out of the way and carefully peered out the hole. What she saw surprised her. She was outside Centre grounds. She could see the haunting silhouette of the building in the distance. She looked back in the tunnel to thank Angelo, but he was already gone.   
Fiona climbed out of the sewer and put the manhole cover back. She didn't know where she should go from here. She looked at her watch, which was the only thing she was wearing that was actually hers. It was 4:30 in the morning. There was one person that she knew would be up at this time. She looked around to get her bearings and then set off to find him.  
  
60 Herrick Court  
Blue Cove, DE   
  
Mr. Patten was making breakfast for himself. He found it hard to get used to only making one serving. He was used to Fiona being there to talk to. It had only been a couple of weeks since she left.  
There was a knock at the back door. He was confused by this. People knew he was up now, but very few ever woke up that early. He walked over to the door and looked outside. He almost passed out at who he saw standing there.  
  
"Fiona, what on earth are you doing here?"  
  
"I guess my parents didn't tell you."  
  
"Tell me what?" he asked worried because the clothes she was wearing looked like a Centre issued outfit.   
  
"The Centre found me."  
  
"How could they? I thought your father believed they could not."  
  
"That's something we'll have to find out. I have to contact my parents. This is probably tearing them apart."  
  
"Well, you know where the phone is," he said stunned. He sank into his couch and watched her dial the phone.  



	6. In a Heartbeat 6

1.1.1.1 In a Heartbeat  
  
By RaajmdTMP  
  
Part 6  
  
The "Mason Family" House  
  
The shrill ring of the phone woke Jarod from a sleep he hadn't realized he fell into. He had been sitting at his desk in the living room waiting for any news on his daughter or the Centre. Miss Parker stirred in her sleep on the couch. Jarod rubbed his eyes and picked up the phone.  
  
"Any news, Broots?" The person on the other end was silent.  
  
"Hello?" Jarod said when no one answered. Miss Parker opened her eyes sleepily. She looked at the clock and wondered who would be calling at this time in the morning.  
  
"H.hello."  
  
"Fiona?" his voice cracked. Miss Parker jumped off the couch. "Fi, is that you?" he asked after Miss Parker turned on the speakerphone.  
  
"Yes, it's me, Dad."  
  
"Fiona, are you okay? Did they hurt you?"  
  
"They didn't hurt me, I'm fine."  
  
"Where are you? How did you escape?"  
  
"A man named Angelo helped me."  
  
"You know Angelo?"  
  
"Yeah, since before I escaped last time. He told me my parents were alive," she laughed lightly. "I guess he was right. I'm at Mr. Patten's right now."  
  
"We'll come down and get you first thing in the morning.  
  
You stay right where you are. We'll be there as soon as possible. You just stay put."  
  
"Okay, I will. Before you hang up, I just want to tell you that I missed you and. and I love you."  
  
"We love you, too, sweetheart. We're so glad you're safe."  
  
"Thank you." She ended the call.  
  
Jarod smiled.  
  
"She's safe. She's free."  
  
Miss Parker smiled as well. She started to laugh and she sat on his lap. He put his arms around her waist.  
  
"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" Parker said her smile widening. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I guess we will finally have the family we always wanted."  
  
60 Herrick Ct  
  
Blue Cove, DE  
  
Later That Day  
  
Mrs. Patten had woken up to a sight she never thought she'd see again. Mr. Patten and Fiona were sitting by the fireplace playing chess.  
  
"Richard, what in the world." her voice trailed off.  
  
"Don't worry, Frances. My parents will be here to pick me up in a little while."  
  
"But, how. what happened? Did the Centre?"  
  
"Yes they did. But I'm safe now. We'll all be more careful in the future."  
  
"You seem to be taking this way too lightly, the two of you. This is very serious. If they found you once, what's to stop them from doing it again?"  
  
"They could only have found us if they had a tip from somewhere. Do you know how many people knew that I was moving away? There were at least three hundred kids in the seventh grade alone that could have, knowingly or unknowingly, given away my secret. We won't tell many people this time. Only the people we have to. And even then we won't tell them where we'll go."  
  
"I suppose you're right. How did this happen?"  
  
"Well, I was at a store after." she began to explain. Frances sat down and listened intently to Fiona's story. Mr. Patten, who had already heard the story, listened carefully as well. He was determined to try to help her as much as possible. There had to be a clue as to how the Centre had found out where her family was.  
  
Once he'd heard the whole story twice, Mr. Patten had ruled only out Fiona's friend, Danny, because he had met her for the first time the day she was kidnapped. It could have been anyone along the way from Blue Cove to Melrose who talked to the wrong people. By the time Mrs. Patten went into Fiona's old room to get her some clothes that she had left behind, he was more frustrated than before. This wasn't his line of work. He was an English teacher, if he wanted to solve things like these, he would have become a detective. He felt so useless. When he was in trouble, she saved his life. He couldn't do anything to protect her anymore.  
  
60 Herrick Court  
  
Blue Cove, DE  
  
3:00pm  
  
The Patten's and Fiona were sitting in the kitchen eating lunch when the phone rang. Mr. Patten got up and answered it.  
  
"Hello? Hang on a second." He held the phone up for Fiona. "It's your father."  
  
Fi jumped up and grabbed the receiver.  
  
"Dad?"  
  
"Hi, Fiona. How are you?"  
  
"Much more relaxed. Where are you guys?"  
  
"We should be in Blue Cove in about a half hour. Can you ask Mr. Patten if he'll drive you to the Beliveau Inn? It's out of the way. It should be a safe place to meet."  
  
"I'm sure he will. See you then."  
  
"I love you."  
  
Fiona smiled, "I love you, too."  
  
The Beliveau Inn  
  
Blue Cove, DE  
  
Jarod pulled up in front of the small inn that he had stayed at when he had been searching for Mr. Patten the previous November. He looked around cautiously before getting out. He put the alarm on the car before entering the building. He booked a room for one night so his family could get their lives back in order before having to travel again.  
  
Within a half hour, Mr. Patten's red truck pulled up outside the inn. Mr. Patten stayed outside near the truck while Fiona walked in to find her parents. Her Inner Sense lead her to room number four. She lifted her hand to knock, but let it drop in defeat. She shook her head, took a deep breath and this time was successful at knocking. She could hear motion from inside the room and, before she knew it, she found herself in a bone-crushing hug.  
  
"Fiona, you're here! You're okay!"  
  
"Mom, I've missed you so much!" Fiona cried, hugging her back.  
  
Miss Parker pulled back and looked at her daughter. She was smiling through tears.  
  
"Sister's back! Sister's back!" cried a little voice.  
  
"Christian? He's talking?" Fiona said looking into the room.  
  
Her little brother was sitting on the bed. Jarod sat on the floor in front of him, keeping him from falling off. That was the only thing stopping Jarod from running over to hug Fiona.  
  
Fi walked over to her father, knelt down on the floor in front of him and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back. She felt his tears on her shoulder.  
  
"It's okay, Dad. I'm safe now," she assured.  
  
"Ouch!" Jarod yelped. Christian had pulled his hair. He turned to face him. "What was that for?"  
  
"Sound!" the little boy said pointing at the muted television. Jarod turned the volume up and soon Christian was singing along to Winnie the Pooh the best that his limited vocabulary allowed. Fiona laughed and got up off the floor.  
  
"Will you give your big sister a hug?" she asked the boy. He smiled and held out his arms. She picked him up and kissed him on the forehead. He blushed and buried his head in her neck.  
  
"Fiona, as much as I hate to ruin this moment by mentioning the Centre." Jarod trailed off, his words catching in his throat.  
  
"You want to know how this happened. I'll explain everything." She put her brother back on the bed and sat down in a chair. She began to tell them, in great detail, everything that happened from the time she first saw the sweepers till the moment she was standing there in front of them. It was all too much for Miss Parker; she had left the room with Christian at the first mention of Mr. Cox.  
  
When Fi was finished, Jarod and Fiona sat silently thinking in the small room. Miss Parker returned to the room to find them with the exact same expression on their faces. It stunned her for a second how alike they were, now more than before.  
  
"It had to be someone at the school. No one else knew about you. No one else knew that you left. No one else could have given our location away," Jarod concluded. He looked at Fiona and Miss Parker. They both shook their heads.  
  
"That may be true, but it really doesn't narrow down the possibilities much. There are nearly 1000 people at the school."  
  
"Do you have even the slightest clue who it might be?" Miss Parker asked.  
  
Fiona closed her eyes. She began to run through different possibilities. She pictured the faces of everyone she'd ever met, working backwards. She shuddered slightly when she pictured Cox. She kept thinking. Lyle, the guard outside her cell, the sweepers who caught her. she stopped. Something was familiar about one of them that she hadn't noticed before. Her memory flashed back to the previous November, before she had met her parents.  
  
~******~  
  
Fiona walked into room 312 for English class. The second she walked through the door, she could tell something wasn't right. The familiar scent of aftershave lotion wasn't as strong as usual, as if the person who wore it hadn't been in the room that day. She looked over at the blackboard to see a strange man writing the day's assignment in yellow chalk. He was of average height with salt and pepper hair. He turned around. She had never seen the man before in her life.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Hello," she greeted with a knot forming in her stomach. "Who are you?" she asked.  
  
"I'm Mr. Martin, the substitute English teacher."  
  
"No you're not," she said in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I am," he said smiling.  
  
"No, no you can't be. Mr. Patten is here. I was just with him an hour ago."  
  
"Something's wrong with his stomach. He's at the hospital."  
  
"What?" she breathed. She ran out the classroom door and up to the teacher's parking lot. The red truck was in its spot like it was supposed to be.  
  
"What the." her heart sunk and she ran the distance from there to Herrick Court within three minutes.  
  
~******~  
  
Fiona's eyes popped open. She could see the teacher's face in her mind now. It was the same as the sweeper who caught her. Not the tall one with the sandy hair that actually grabbed her, but the smart one. The one that gave the orders. The one with the strangely familiar smile.  
  
"Mr. Martin!" she exclaimed standing up quickly. Too quickly, she had to sit back down. Her parents stared at her with perplexed expressions on their faces.  
  
"Who is Mr. Martin?" they asked simultaneously.  
  
"He was Mr. Patten's substitute teacher the day he disappeared. He's the one that told me the cover story for the first time. He.he was one of the sweepers that found me."  
  
"What?" Jarod asked.  
  
"He took you away from us, that dirty." Parker mumbled incoherently under her breath. She gave her son to Jarod and, before he could say anything to stop her, she grabbed her gun and headed for the door.  
  
"Parker, no!"  
  
"Jarod, shut up! He stole Fiona from us, he's not going to get away with it that easily!" she yelled after whirling around to face him. She felt a hand close around her gun and turned her head to look.  
  
"It's okay, Mom, I'm fine now. Please don't do this," Fi pleaded trying to ease the gun from Parker's grasp. When it was harder than she thought, she looked at Jarod, who added, "We need you too much. I need you."  
  
Parker let her grip loosen and felt the weight of the gun leave her hand. A tear ran down her cheek. Fiona looked down at the gun in her hand and a familiar feeling returned to her stomach. An unwelcome feeling. Suddenly her mind was transported to another year, in early May.  
  
~******~  
  
"Use all the hot water and I'll kill you."  
  
Empty shower, ransacked house, trail of blood, dead body.  
  
"Oh my.Tommy!?"  
  
"There's been a murder up on Briar Road."  
  
"No. Oh, don't leave me. Please don't leave me."  
  
~******~  
  
"Fiona! Fi, are you okay?" Parker asked worriedly. Fiona looked sick. She pushed the gun back in Parker's hand.  
  
"No, I'm not," she said almost in tears as she bolted for the bathroom. She slammed the door shut behind her and began to pace the little room quickly. She felt a strong headache coming on.  
  
How in the world could that be true? They said it would be used to help people, not kill someone. It wasn't supposed to be real. They didn't, they couldn't have. It just wasn't possible.  
  
Miss Parker knocked lightly on the door. "Fiona? Fi, honey, what's wrong?"  
  
The bathroom door swung open slowly. "I need to ask you a question."  
  
"Okay, what do you want to know?"  
  
Fiona tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Was.was that gun, ah, was that gun." she couldn't spit it out. By this time, Jarod, at least, had an idea about what she was trying to say. He put his head down and avoided her eyes. Miss Parker looked over at him and noticed his change in expression. She suddenly realized what Fi was trying to ask them and all the color drained from her face. How could she possibly know?  
  
"Fi, how did you." Parker began looking slowly up at Fi's face.  
  
"It's true then. This gun was used to kill someone."  
  
"That is true, Fiona."  
  
"You were close, weren't you?"  
  
"Yes, I was. We both were," Miss Parker answered glancing at Jarod. He smiled sadly. They both turned back to Fiona, who looked like she was going to cry.  
  
"Fiona, Thomas was a wonderful person and didn't in any way deserve his fate, but there's no way you could have done anything. It's horrible to think about, but I don't understand why it's affecting you the way it is."  
  
"It's my fault," she whispered inaudibly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's my fault," she repeated louder and through clenched teeth.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"About two years ago, I was given a simulation. I was trying to find out if it was possible to kill a man without waking up the person in the bed next to him and if so, how to go about doing it. I didn't know they'd actually use it to kill someone. If I did, I never would have."  
  
"Of course you wouldn't. I know how you feel. When I found out what my simulations were used for, I decided to escape. There was no way you could have known. You can't blame yourself. I know, it doesn't work."  
  
"How many people died because of what I thought up?" Fiona asked sadly.  
  
"I wish I could tell you, but I don't know myself."  
  
The Inn at Mill Falls  
  
New Hampshire  
  
Miss Parker sat on a chair on the back porch of an inn on Lake Winnipesaukee. Fiona was playing with CJ, as he had come to be known over the past few days, on the grass near the water. Jarod was out checking for houses for sale in the area. The small New Hampshire town they were in was very isolated. With the exception of the area surrounding the inn, you had to drive a half hour to the nearest store. It was very peaceful and it felt safe. They had learned from past experiences not to get too comfortable and they really didn't plan to any time soon. They did have to return to some kind of normalcy after what had occurred over the past month, their whole lives for that matter, and that was what they were trying to do.  
  
An older woman walked out onto the porch carrying a cup of tea.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was out here," the woman said and started to walk away.  
  
"That's okay. Sit down," Parker said while pulling a chair over for her.  
  
"Thank you," the woman said and began to sip her tea. "Are you enjoying your stay?"  
  
"Yes. It's beautiful up here. It's definitely a welcome change."  
  
"I know what you mean," she paused. "I'm Maggie," she said holding out her hand.  
  
"Parker. It's nice to meet you, Maggie."  
  
Maggie watched Fiona and CJ playing by the lake and smiled.  
  
"Are those your kids?"  
  
"Yeah, they are," she answered smiling. She had never been able to say that before. It felt right.  
  
"They look like good kids."  
  
"The best."  
  
Maggie's happy mood drained away slowly. Miss Parker noticed her mood fade to sadness.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Ah, yeah, I'm fine," Maggie answered while wiping away a stray tear. "What's your son's name?"  
  
"Christian," she paused. "Are you sure you're all right?"  
  
"Yeah, it's just that, your son reminds me of my son when he was his age."  
  
"Do they grow up as fast as I've heard?"  
  
Maggie was silent for a second and it made Parker feel as if she had hit upon a sore spot.  
  
"I'm sorry, you don't have to answer. I didn't mean to intrude."  
  
"No, no that's okay. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch my son grow up. There's no way you could have known."  
  
"I'm sorry. What happened?" Parker asked as politely as she could.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"For what?" she asked confused.  
  
"For offering to listen. I've never had anyone to really talk to about this."  
  
"It's okay."  
  
"My.my son was kidnapped."  
  
"Kidnapped?"  
  
"Yes, he was taken nearly 40 years ago."  
  
"Oh my God!"  
  
"It is hard to imagine, isn't it?"  
  
"You never found him?" Parker asked with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.  
  
"No. I did see him, about four years ago, but." she couldn't continue. She looked at Parker and noticed that she was staring at the ground. At that moment Fiona came up with CJ toddling next to her.  
  
"Mom, CJ keeps bugging me about Dad. He wants to know when he'll be home, but he doesn't understand that I don't know," she looked at Maggie. "Oh, excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt."  
  
"That's okay."  
  
"Mom, are you okay?" Fiona asked.  
  
"I'm fine, Fi. This is Maggie."  
  
"Hi, Maggie."  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Maggie was just telling me about her son. He was kidnapped 40 years ago."  
  
"He was? But that's."  
  
Parker cut her off with a nod. Fiona's eyes widened.  
  
"Does that mean she's."  
  
"What's going on here?" Maggie asked confused.  
  
"Maggie, I wish I realized this before, you might have heard of the name Parker in connection with."  
  
Sudden realization hit her. "Parker? As in Catherine Parker?" she asked, shock visible on her face.  
  
"She was my mother."  
  
"That means that I was just talking to you about losing my son, when your family is responsible for taking him from me. You'll never understand the pain your family has caused me!"  
  
Miss Parker gasped at Maggie's last statement. Maggie was wrong, she did understand. She stood up quickly and briskly walked toward the dock.  
  
"Wait, Mama!" CJ cried and ran after her. Fiona just stood there and watched her mother and brother walk away.  
  
Without turning to face Maggie she said, "You don't know how untrue that last statement was and, however much she deserved to be lectured about what she did for a living, you shouldn't have said that."  
  
"You don't understand where I'm coming from."  
  
"Yes, Maggie, I do. And she does. More than you'll ever know," she said, raising her voice a little.  
  
"You don't know the Centre. You don't know what I've been through, what she's put me through. You're only a child."  
  
"And so was your son," she paused thinking. "Have you ever wanted to know what your son went through every day? Because if you have, I can tell you."  
  
"How could you know what my son's life was like?"  
  
"Because I lived it!" she yelled.  
  
Maggie's face went stark white.  
  
"Are you saying that you were.that you."  
  
"Your son was taken because of his intelligence. I was created for mine. If you want to know what made my mother so upset, I'll tell you. If you think we were always this big happy family, you're wrong. As I said before, I was created. We met for the first time last November. Not one week ago I was in that place. That's why she went away. Because she does know that pain, all too well."  
  
"I'm so sorry. I didn't have any idea."  
  
"No, you didn't. Neither did she. She delivered her own son. She didn't give birth to him, she delivered him believing he was her half brother. She believed, for over a year, that CJ was her brother."  
  
"How is that possible?"  
  
"Her father remarried and used his wife to carry CJ. He was the final piece of the puzzle to move up the Centre's ladder of success."  
  
"What does the J stand for?" Maggie asked. This was too much unexpected information in too short a time and she wanted to try to change the subject.  
  
Fiona smiled and started to laugh. "My father's name."  
  
"Parker? Fiona? Are you out there?"  
  
"And there he is. Christian will be happy," Fiona said shifting her gaze to the door. Maggie looked over to see Jarod walk out.  
  
"Oh my, God in Heaven, it's you!" Maggie ran over to him and hugged him tightly before he knew what hit him.  
  
"Mom! I can't believe it's you!" he said hugging her back. They pulled away from each other and they both looked at Fiona.  
  
"I guess that makes you Grandma," she said with a small smile.  
  
"I'm a grandmother?"  
  
Miss Parker suddenly appeared at their side.  
  
"This is your grandson, Christian Jarod," she said smiling slightly.  
  
"I'm sorry for what I said. I really didn't know."  
  
"I know. It's okay. Here, hold him."  
  
Jarod walked over to the railing on the edge of the deck. Parker looked over at him and could tell instantly he was crying.  
  
"Honey, are you okay?"  
  
Jarod turned his head to look at her but turned away to hide his tears.  
  
"It's okay to cry," she said reaching up and wiping away his tears.  
  
"I.I don't know what to say," he sighed looking at the ground. She tilted his head so she could look him in the eye.  
  
"Don't say anything, then," she said putting her arms around him. He hugged her back and broke down crying. She felt his tears running down her neck.  
  
The scene was being watched from a short distance away. The onlooker took a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a familiar number.  
  
"This is Lyle.No there's no sign of them here.Yes, I understand.I'll find them." He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket with a sigh.  
  
"I must be going crazy," he said before turning around to face the scene again. When he did, he bumped into Fiona.  
  
"I'm sorry, ah, I have to go," he said embarrassed  
  
Fi stopped him and then hugged him. He became very uncomfortable.  
  
"Uh, what was that for?"  
  
"To thank you."  
  
"I didn't do anything."  
  
"Yes, you did. You saved my family."  
  
"No, I really didn't." he stopped, realizing he couldn't change her mind. "Ah, I really have to go now."  
  
"Wait!" Fiona said, stopping him again. "Stay for dinner at least."  
  
"I would, Fiona, but I don't think I'm welcome here."  
  
"You are welcome," Jarod said stepping behind Fiona and putting his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled.  
  
Lyle opened his mouth to say something but decided against it and just followed them in the building. A song played on the radio in the lobby of the inn.  
  
Hello my friend we meet again  
  
It's been a while where should  
  
we begin.feels like forever  
  
Within my heart are memories  
  
Of perfect love that you gave to me  
  
I remember  
  
When you are with me  
  
I'm free.I'm careless.I believe  
  
Above all the others we'll fly  
  
This brings tears to my eyes  
  
My sacrifice  
  
We've seen our share of ups and downs  
  
Oh how quickly life can turn around in  
  
an instant  
  
It feels so good to reunite  
  
Within yourself and within your mind  
  
Let's find peace there  
  
When you are with me  
  
I'm free.I'm careless.I believe  
  
Above all the others we'll fly  
  
This brings tears to my eyes  
  
My sacrifice  
  
I just want to say hello again  
  
The End  
  
Author's Note: Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long. When I started writing this story on March 12, 2000, I never thought it would turn into all that it has. All I knew when I started was that Fi would be Jarod and Miss Parker's daughter. Everything else pretty much just happened as I was going. It feels good to finally be finished.  
  
Giving credit where credit is due, the three songs I've used in this story were by Creed. Higher and With Arms Wide Open are from the album Human Clay, and My Sacrifice is from Weathered. The cast of the story is as follows:  
  
Once a Pretender, Always a Pretender  
  
(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)  
  
MICHAEL T. WEISS ------------ JAROD  
  
ASHLEY PELDON ------------ MISS POWERS/FIONA  
  
ANDREA PARKER ------------ MISS PARKER  
  
PATRICK BAUCHAU ------------ SYDNEY  
  
JON GRIES ------------ BROOTS  
  
JUDY McCARTHY ------------ MS. McCARTHY  
  
JESSIE McNULTY ------------ MRS. McNULTY  
  
PALESA ALLEN ------------ PALESA  
  
STEVEN BELIVEAU ------------ STEVE BELIVEAU  
  
MELISSA STRONG ------------ MELISSA  
  
JASON BROWN ------------ JASON  
  
BOB HOLDEN ------------ MR. HOLDEN  
  
BARBARA POPE ------------ FRANCES PATTEN  
  
CHRISTINA GANDOLFO ------------ YOUNG FIONA  
  
MARY WOLFMAN ------------ DR. WOLFMAN  
  
THOMAS L. BROW, JR. ------------ MR. BROW (VOICE)  
  
NICK SORRENTI ------------ NICK  
  
ALEX WEXO ------------ YOUNG SYDNEY  
  
RYAN MERRIMAN ------------ YOUNG JAROD  
  
ASHLEY PELDON ------------ YOUNG MISS PARKER  
  
TIANA M. PRENDERGAST ------------ TIANA  
  
JO-ANN ERICKSON ------------ JO-ANN  
  
SETH GARLAND ------------ YOUNG RICHARD PATTEN  
  
ALTON BROWN ------------ ALTON BROWN  
  
ALTON BROWN ------------ YOUNG BOB BROWN  
  
RICHARD F. PATTEN ------------ MR. PATTEN  
  
ROBERT BROWN ------------ BOB BROWN  
  
PAUL DILLON ------------ ANGELO  
  
MICHELLE MORRELL ------------ MICHELLE  
  
In a Heartbeat  
  
(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)  
  
ANDREA PARKER ------------ MISS PARKER  
  
MICHAEL T. WEISS ------------ JAROD  
  
PATRICK BAUCHAU ------------ SYDNEY  
  
JON GRIES ------------ BROOTS  
  
JAMIE DENTON ------------ MR. LYLE  
  
HARVE PRESNELL ------------ MR. PARKER  
  
CHRISTIAN J. PRENDERGAST ------------ CHRISTIAN PARKER  
  
ASHLEY PELDON ------------ FIONA  
  
RICHARD F. PATTEN ------------ MR. PATTEN  
  
BARBARA POPE ------------ FRANCES PATTEN  
  
KELSEY MULROONEY ------------ DEBBIE BROOTS  
  
DANIEL GUEVIN ------------ DANNY  
  
MARY WOLFMAN ------------ DR. WOLFMAN  
  
MICHELLE CAMELLO ------------ STORE OWNER  
  
MARTY STANTON ------------ SWEEPER #1  
  
JAMES FARGO ------------ SWEEPER #2  
  
THOMAS PIKE ------------ TOM PIKE  
  
LENNY VON DOHLEN ------------ MR. COX  
  
SAXTON SHARAD ------------ SWEEPER #3  
  
PAUL DILLON ------------ ANGELO  
  
STEVEN BELIVEAU ------------ STEVE BELIVEAU  
  
JASON BROOKS ------------ THOMAS GATES  
  
KIM MEYERS ------------ MAGGIE 


End file.
